MCB customers are increasingly resorting to digital payments, as the momentum towards cash-lite solutions, built over several years, has witnessed a rise in 2025.
Figures reveal that the number of transactions by leveraging QR codes has surged by 67 percent in 2025 compared to the previous year, while contactless payments increased by 4 percent. As such, the proportion of cash transactions among individual customers has decreased from 30 percent to 27 percent by the end of December 2025.
This trend was also observed among the bank’s customers during the festive period. Transactions conducted via cards and QR codes increased by 18 percent on Black Friday, by 9 percent during Christmas shopping, and by 9 percent on end-of-year shopping.
As a whole, between November 1 and December 31, 17.3 million transactions were carried out by MCB customers using cards and QR codes. This represents a 13 percent increase compared to the corresponding period in 2024.
During Black Friday, the bank’s clients conducted transactions worth Rs 1.9 billion via cards and QR codes, accounting for an 8 percent rise in relation to the corresponding period of last year, with an Average Transaction Value (ATV) at Rs 1 809. The majority of MCB clients conducted physical retail transactions to the tune of 89 percent in relation to 11 percent online.
During Christmas, the MCB informs that its clients conducted transactions via cards and QR codes for an average of Rs 3.5 billion, accounting for 5 percent in relation to 2024, mainly in retail stores and restaurants. While the ATV during this period, from December 20-25, stood at Rs 1 654.
The bank clients also conducted card transactions during travel, with France leading at Rs 57,000, followed by South Africa at Rs 71,000, and the UAE at Rs 52,000 in 2025.
Head of Payments at MCB, Stéphanie Ng Tseung commented that the trend towards resorting to alternative means of cash has been confirmed in 2025. “At the MCB, we have been accompanying and supporting this evolution for several years, both in terms of usage and acceptance of digital payments, in particular at the SME level. This trend has strengthened over the years and, in particular, in 2025, when the MAUCAS interoperable QR code is a centerpiece of the payment digitalization strategy,” she told.
“Today, we have in place an ecosystem that has helped to position ourselves as an innovative bank in terms of payment, with the Juice app, contactless payments, banking cards, and recently, Tap to Pay. The MCB is working in direct collaboration with all the stakeholders to implement the cashlite economy on the island,” she underlines.
